The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/28/2018
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EASTER: The resurrection -- a fatal blow to death
by Joshua Crutchfield
Date: March 28, 2018 - Wednesday
MADISONVILLE, Texas (BP) -- Pain is something all the world can relate to. But the cross upon which Jesus died was not the ultimate source of the pain He endured.
The cross took Jesus to the source of ultimate pain -- death. He died so that He could eradicate sin, yes, but also vanquish death.
The world sees the cross as a foolish and absurd means of defeating death (1 Corinthians 1:18) because the cross kills. How can Jesus overpower death by dying?
But in the resurrection, Jesus delivered death a fatal blow when He walked out of the tomb. He met death on His terms and disarmed its ability to maintain power over the dead, leaving death powerless and dying. While the cross appears to be foolish to the world, those who are being saved can testify to its power because of what Jesus accomplished when He was raised from the dead.
The Gospel that lacks the resurrection is void of power and is useless. Without it, Christ would benefit no one, for He would still be dead. If Christ is still dead, then what hope do we have in the face of the looming reality that our lives will one day come to an end? There is none. The apostle Paul said that if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith in Christ is worthless -- literally powerless (1 Corinthians 15:17).
And if we preach the resurrection of Christ, but fail to preach the resurrection of the saints from their graves, what hope would this kind of faith give us in this world? Sure, we could say that death is the gateway of heaven, that it is our friend in assisting us into the afterlife much like the Greek mythological figure Charon, the ferryman who led the deceased souls across the river Styx.
But how can death be our friend, when the Bible has declared death to be our enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26)?
There is no lasting victory of heaven if there is no resurrection of the dead, merely spiritual morphine that eases our discomfort while death continues his rampage.
Funerals, as reminders that death is our enemy, show no partiality to age, gender, race or social status. Death is an equal opportunist. This means that the entire world has a common adversary. But what weapon can be fashioned against such a foe? We could pull all of our resources together and seek ways to extend our lives, but this only delays the inevitable.
There exists only one weapon that can vanquish such an opponent -- the Gospel. But what gives the Gospel the punch, that knocks death down permanently is the resurrection. When we fail to preach the resurrection, we fail to preach the Gospel.
What we believe about the resurrection of the dead impacts our preaching, our evangelism and every other aspect of our lives. The chief victory of Jesus is not that He died, but that even though He died, He lives. So if Jesus dies and then lives, He validates that He is indeed the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). And if He is the resurrection and the life, then those who believe in Him, even if they die will live.
The resurrection is the demonstrated power of God in Christ and fills every believer with the hope that death does not have the final say. The resurrection promises us a future where death is dead. For the one who said, "Lazarus, come forth," will one day call us forth to everlasting life.
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Committee on Resolutions named for 2018 SBC
by Baptist Press Staff
Date: March 28, 2018 - Wednesday
DALLAS (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines has named members of the Committee on Resolutions for the June 12-13 SBC annual meeting in Dallas.
Jason Duesing of Missouri was named as the committee's chairman by Gaines.
Duesing is provost and associate professor of historical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and a member of Antioch Bible Baptist Church in Gladstone, Mo.
Gaines, pastor of Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, appointed the committee in keeping with the provision in SBC Bylaw 20 that its members be named 75 days prior to the start of the annual meeting.
The other committee members, in alphabetical order, are:
-- Ken Alford, pastor, Crossroads Baptist Church, Valdosta, Ga.
-- Byron Day, pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Laurel, Md.
-- Candi Finch, assistant professor of theology in women's studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; member of Hope Church, Fort Worth.
-- Willie McLaurin, special assistant to the executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, Franklin, Tenn.; member of Simeon Baptist Church, Antioch, Tenn.
-- Chris Metcalf, pastor, Lihue Baptist Church, Lihue, Hawaii.
-- Jason Paredes, lead pastor, Fielder Church, Arlington, Texas.
-- Adron Robinson, senior pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Country Club Hills, Ill.
-- Alicia Wong, associate professor of women's ministry, Gateway Seminary, Ontario, Calif.; member of Rosena Church, San Bernardino, Ca.
-- Curtis Woods, associate executive director for convention relations, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Louisville, Ky.; member of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville.
The committee's composition, according to Bylaw 20, must include at least two members who served the previous year, with Duesing and Alford meeting this requirement. Bylaw 20 also stipulates that the committee include at least three SBC Executive Committee members. This year they are Alford, Metcalf and Robinson.
The procedure for submitting resolutions is as follows according to Bylaw 20:
-- Proposed resolutions may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the SBC annual meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. The committee also may propose resolutions for consideration during its deliberations. Resolutions may not be submitted during the annual meeting.
-- Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger to the SBC annual meeting certifying that the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing.
-- Proposed resolutions preferably should be submitted by email or mailed to the Committee on Resolutions in care of the SBC Executive Committee, 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203. The drafts must be typewritten, titled, dated and include complete contact information for the person and his or her church.
-- No person will be allowed to submit more than three resolutions per year.
-- If a properly submitted resolution is not forwarded by the Committee on Resolutions to the SBC annual meeting, a two-thirds vote of messengers would be required to bring the proposed resolution to the convention floor.
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'Cemetery' displays collegians' pro-life stance
by Brian Blackwell/Baptist Message
Date: March 28, 2018 - Wednesday
PINEVILLE, La. (BP) -- Nearly 500 flags in a "Cemetery for the Innocent" covered a section of Louisiana College's quad as a memorial to the unborn on March 20.
Each flag represented five of the lives aborted daily in the U.S.
Chaz Morgan, president of the Louisiana College Students for Life, described the Cemetery for the Innocent as a visual picture of the battle that those who value life face daily in comments to the state convention's Baptist Message newsjournal.
"We wanted students to be aware of how serious this issue is in our nation today," Morgan said. "We're showing people there are pro-life people out there who stand for what they believe in." The Students for Life initiative also included distribution of flyers about the abortion issue.
This is the second year the organization has hosted the Cemetery for the Innocent.
The Cemetery for the Innocent is one of several pro-life events the student organization has sponsored. Last month, they teamed up with other organizations Feb. 3 for the third annual Louisiana Life March in central Louisiana, which drew more than 5,600 participants who marched for life from the college's campus in Pineville to the amphitheater in nearby downtown Alexandria.
A brief video of Morgan describing the Cemetery for the Innocent can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXM1LlHnJ9c.
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Her call: vulnerable women & babies in their wombs
by Kayla Rinker
Date: March 28, 2018 - Wednesday
COLUMBIA, Mo. (BP) -- The abdominal bleeding wouldn't stop and she was running a fever of 104. The landlord knew the ordeal her young tenant had been through at Planned Parenthood, so she called somebody who knew more about post-abortion health concerns than she did.
After a few phone calls, the scared young woman was connected with Bonnie Lee.
"Am I dying?" she asked Lee.
The woman had called the nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood and was told she may have the flu and was advised not to come in or else she might expose everyone.
"They don't want to admit and document complications," Lee said. "Her condition was life-threatening and when we got her the care she needed, they discovered she still had some fetal tissue, which means she had not had a complete abortion and was experiencing a raging infection.
"She told me, 'I know I deserve this because I killed my baby.' Her pain was much more than physical."
A retired registered nurse, Lee serves as the Mid-Missouri Baptist Association's discipleship ministry and religious liberty and ethics specialist. She is a sidewalk advocate with 40 Days for Life and is part of the legislative arm for Team P.L.A.Y. (Prayer, Legislation, Activity and You, a collaboration of organizations and individuals dedicated to limiting abortion in Missouri). She also is a member of the Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board and of Open Heart Baptist Church in Columbia.
The young woman didn't have family in the area so she asked Lee to accompany her to the OBGYN to make sure all the infection was gone.
"As we waited for her appointment, she pulled out her phone and showed me a picture of the cutest little fairy garden underneath a tree," Lee recounted. "She said, 'That's where I buried him. I buried my child in the backyard.'
"I can't imagine the pain these women go through for years and years. How are these women going to heal if they don't feel free to share their stories?" Lee reflected.
"The aborted babies have no voice and the exploited women in crisis situations have no voice," she said. "That's the reason why I do what I do. We are to give voice to the voiceless."
While Lee's calling to fight on the front lines of Missouri's pro-life movement began in 2010, she sees how God laid the groundwork for her ministry. Her work as a surgical nurse educated her in sanitary requirements and her work in clinical drug trials gave her experience in patient consent legalities -- what informed consent is and what it is not. The last four years before retiring, Lee worked as a legal nurse consultant, which gave her experience in sifting facts, finding truth and uncovering negligence.
"Twice in my career I've actually been terminated for standing on the truth," Lee said. "It was not a pleasant time in my life, but those experiences are the only reason why I understand what power can do to people. Through all of that, I saw God's affirmation that He is in control, He will provide and He has a better plan -- a plan that I could never have imagined."
That plan unfolded for Lee one day during an errand for her mother.
"It was providence," she said. "I went to pick up some dressing needed for my mother's knee and I saw two ladies standing on the sidewalk. I could tell they were praying. My eyes wandered up to the sign on the building behind them and it said, 'Planned Parenthood.' I had lived in Columbia since 1984 and I didn't know we had a Planned Parenthood clinic. I had always been pro-life, but I've since learned that 800 babies had been killed in my own city and I had no idea."
"Once God awakened me to the reality of what was happening, I could be silent no more," except: "It took me a year before I considered becoming a sidewalk advocate, which is someone who reaches out to the women who come to Planned Parenthood and offers personal prayer, information and alternatives," Lee said. Having experienced a miscarriage at five months between the births of her two sons, it was tough to wrap her mind around a woman choosing to end a pregnancy.
"I had so much anger in my heart that I didn't feel compassionate and I knew my words to them wouldn't be either."
Over time God broke her heart for exploited women in crisis situations. And now she knows her fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities and evil powers that want to continue to treat abortion as a business.
"Even those who are militant to defend their pro-abortion stand are often trying to bury the truth," Lee said. "The light of that truth comes through and it's too painful to acknowledge. The guilt and shame preys upon people."
Lee said Baptist churches could and should do a lot to help. They could offer post-abortion healing ministries; support Baptist children's homes, such as the Missouri Baptist Children's Home, through the Cooperative Program; and do all they can to support their local crisis pregnancy centers. Churches must make a declaration to fight for all human life, put feet to the ground, as well as be the strong voice of hope and forgiveness, she said.
Proverbs 31:8-9 says: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
"And we dare say that's political? And are silent?" Lee said. "Women sit in the pews unhealed and afraid to speak out. … That's got to change. Abortion will not stop until there is a heart change across the board."
For more information about 40 Days for Life visit 40daysforlife.com and for more information about Team P.L.A.Y. visit womenmustbesafe.com.
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Assisted suicide dies in 2 New England states
by Tom Strode
Date: March 28, 2018 - Wednesday
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Legislative efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide have failed in two New England states, but Hawaii appears to be on the verge of enacting the practice.
If Hawaii legalizes assisted suicide, it will become the seventh state to do so, following California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington -- as well as the District of Columbia.
"Assisted suicide is an assault on dignity," Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore told Baptist Press in written comments. "Assisted suicide turns human life and death into marketable goods. Moreover, it undermines the inherent worth of every person, regardless of age, health or mental ability."
Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, expressed his gratitude for the failure of bills in Massachusetts and Connecticut. "My prayer is that all of our states and citizens would promote legislation that honors human life rather than markets death," he said.
Bills in both the Massachusetts and Connecticut legislatures failed to move beyond committees, assisted-suicide foes reported.
The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health sent bills from both the Senate and House of Representatives to a study committee March 22, according to the Patients Rights Action Fund. That action effectively killed the legislation. A proposal in the Connecticut House died in committee, the disability rights organization Not Dead Yet said March 26.
The Hawaii House of Representatives, however, passed an assisted-suicide measure March 6 in a 39-12 vote. Two state Senate committees have approved the legislation since House passage. The most recent approval came in a March 23 vote by the state Senate Judiciary Committee. A Senate vote in favor of the bill seemingly would assure it becomes law. Gov. David Ige is on record in support of the proposal.
The legislative actions are the latest in the ongoing battle between advocates for and opponents of authorizing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs for people who want to end their lives. The proposals typically limit those receiving the lethal doses to people who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses and supposedly have less than six months to live.
Legislators in at least 25 states proposed bills legalizing assisted suicide in their most recent sessions, according to the pro-assisted suicide Death With Dignity National Center.
Opponents of assisted suicide continue to defend the sanctity of human life for the terminally ill, the disabled and other vulnerable human beings.
Matt Valliere, executive director of the Patients Rights Action Fund, commended specifically those who helped kill the Massachusetts proposal.
"Assisted suicide is not medical treatment," Valliere said in a written statement. "It is bad public policy that puts a great many at risk of deadly harm through mistakes, coercion and abuse."
Marie Manis, Massachusetts campaign director for the pro-assisted suicide organization Compassion & Choices, said her group is "deeply disappointed" at the death of the bill in this session, the Boston Herald reported.
Advocates for assisted suicide in the state gained a boost in December when the Massachusetts Medical Society broke with the American Medical Association to switch its position from opposed to neutral.
Critics of assisted suicide charge that the practice is not only potentially abusive, but it already is being used in place of health care. Some Americans with terminal illnesses have reported Medicaid and/or their insurance companies have informed them they will pay for a lethal prescription but not drugs to treat their afflictions.
Messengers to the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention meeting adopted a resolution affirming "the dignity and sanctity of human life at all stages of development, from conception to natural death." The resolution called on churches and Christians "to care for the elderly among us, to show them honor and dignity, and to prayerfully support and counsel those who are providing end-of-life care for the aged, the terminally ill, and the chronically infirmed."